New House Of Commons Nursery

That this House notes the decision taken by the House of Commons Commission on 14 December 2009 to convert the extremely popular and well-used Bellamy's Bar and the Astor Suite in Parliament Street into a nursery for 40 children; records that this change of use was not put to the House for debate or decision; further notes that the popularity ofBellamy's Bar and the Astor Suite, which were open to staff, hon. Members and guests, and generated valuable income, was demonstrated by the fact the480,000 had been spent on refurbishing it in thetwoyears prior to the Commission's decision; further notes that the cost of converting Bellamy's Bar and the Astor Suite into the nursery has cost 511,000 plus VAT and that, out of more than 6,500 people who work on the Parliamentary Estate the nursery had, on 1 October 2010, one month since its opening, one child enrolled in it; regrets the fact that at a time when children's nurseries, such as the Claremont Day Nursery in Sparkbrook are being closed or are under threat throughout the country over 1 million has been wasted, at a time of austerity, on an unwanted nursery which is, pro-rata to the number of children in it, the most expensive nursery in the country; and believes that the nursery should now be opened up to the children of families in Westminster and other boroughs close to the House of Commons who are losing their nursery provision.

This motion has been signed by a total of 2 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.